#house meta series

[bbygirl-paul]

teeth blackening in house harkonnen

i was really intrigued by the practice of teeth blackening in harkonnen culture in dune part two, specifically because i recognized it as a historical japanese cultural practice. so here's a breakdown on what teeth blackening looked like in real world japanese culture, my thoughts on why denis villeneuve chose to bring this into harkonnen culture in particular, and the gendered implications of feyd rautha being the only male harkonnen shown with blackened teeth.

ohaguro, which translates to "black teeth," is a custom born in japan that reached peak popularity between the 10th and 19th centuries (it's first documented in writing in the tale of genji from the 11th century). this practice involved blackening teeth with a solution called kanemizu, which translates to "black water" and consists of iron shavings dissolved in vinegar and then combined with tannins to create a black liquid. the dye was re-applied daily or every other day to avoid the dulling or graying of the color.

ohaguro was originally practiced exclusively by member of the aristrocracy, mainly by married women, but also some men. ohaguro was commonly practiced when nobility came of age or when women were married. the practice only died out in the 19th century, largely as a result of western beauty ideals being enforced in japanese society through colonialism.

there are a few different reasons why ohaguro was thought to have achieved such popularity within the upper class. deep black was seen as a very beautiful color, and objects that were black were thought to be beautiful. the dye also possibly served to prevent tooth decay.

we see black as a dominant color in various aspects of harkonnen cutlure, including (but not limited) to the armor, ceremonial markings, and clothing of the upper class:

and i think this nudges us further towards this idea of black as a color of beauty, and the idea that teeth blackening was almost like a form of makeup that was seen to make someone more beautiful within upper class social circles.

considering that ohaguro originated with and remained most popular with noble women in japan, it's also very gender that feyd is the only harkonnen man we see with blackened teeth- his uncle the baron and his brother rabban aren't shown with blackened teeth. and the only others we see with blackened teeth are feyd's harpies, who are women.

tldr feyd rautha has black teeth because he's giedi prime's prettiest boy. also he's never beating the femboy allegations like this

#ohaguro #harkonnen culture #house harkonne #harkonnen #meta #dune meta #dune #dune series #dune movie #denis villeneuve #feyd rautha harkonnen #feyd rautha #feyd #glossu rabban #beast rabban #rabban #baron vladimir harkonnen #the baron #vladimir harkonnen #dune part 1 #dune 2021 #dune part one #dune 1 #dune 2 #dune 2024 #dune part 2 #dune part two #dune part ii #dune part i

[desultory-novice]

Silliness aside, while i was gathering images from Moonlight Mansion for that last post, I uh... realized something kinda BIG...

That towering manor, with the big "M" doorway? A symbol like that kinda reminds you of a certain airship.... ...But no! Surely that decorated "M" stands for "Moonlight!"

Oh, wait.... Oh no...

On the gate...is that......? IT IS!

IT'S DARK META KNIGHT! And all the BAT imagery everywhere too...! Ahhh! I can't believe I'm just now seeing this!?!

:cue "Damn, bitch, you live like this?":

But I will be taking those stained glass windows of the Guardians of the Mirror World as more evidence for my "Dark Meta Knight was a mole who truly cared about the Mirror World" theory though!

(And maybe the grave stone is for the Mirror Meta Knights, like when I theorized they'd all died and that's why DMK's such a loner...)

#Kirby #Kirby series #Dark Meta Knight #cw: language #How did I never see this before?? #Did everyone else know about this already?! #Moonlight Mansion is DMK's goddamn HOUSE #And of course you find Shadow Kirby right outside the gates!! #DMK why are you so...!! :cries in misunderstood character: #The fact that he chooses to fight you in Radish Ruins. He loves old ruins. Just like Meta Knight does...!! #All those books too... tossed aside... broken mirrors... #Yeah this does absolutely nothing to de-convince me that something baaaaad happened to DMK and the others... #DMK Defense Force

[winterprince601]

"Jon will want me. Even if no one else does." - arya

that's RIGHT! he WILL! sorry to the surely very few "arya is too far gone" truthers - jon STRONGLY disagrees. when he decides to save "arya" from ramsay, jon wonders if they'll even recognise each other. he struggles to reconcile the memory of the scrappy little sister he loved and the girl forced to be ramsay's "bride". he knows she might have suffered and she might have changed... and then he sacrifices EVERYTHING to try and save her anyway!!! this arya is symbolically and LITERALLY a completely different person and jon still loves her unconditionally. arya doesn't NEED redeeming in any significant way - what she needs is love and healing and not even death is going to prevent jon "big brother of the year" snow from providing it, thank you for coming to me NED talk.

#i coined the NED talk format btw #but feel free to empower your posts with it in future #yes jon and arya have the most important relationship in the series #i literally just elaborated #but i think about them all the time #i like grrm am actually a sucker for it being love love love all along #asoiaf #arya stark #jon snow #asoiaf meta #house stark #a song of ice and feels #starklings #stark feels

[vaguely-concerned]

Thinking about the symbolic weight of smoking in the TLT universe that comes to the fore in The Unwanted Guest -- the way it moves through from person to person: Pyrrha smoked, and Augustine wanted to impress her in all her stone cold fox MILF James Bond glory (and tbf who wouldn't) so he started too. and even though as far as he knows she's been gone for a myriad and is never coming back, he keeps the habit. Ianthe sees something in the hollowed-out Faberge eggshell of Augustine that resonates with her, all that gilded eloquent emptiness and disdain through the ages, so she picked it up from him to try to emulate it. She picked it up so hard that Palamedes -- the exact spiritual antithesis of the 'smoking! on a space station! what a powermove' ennui Ianthe so admired -- spontaneously unnerded enough to even known how to, simply from a sort of contact contamination of the soul.

G1deon and Augustine sharing a jittery smoke after their near-Harrow experience during soup night, and it's the closest thing to any real sense of brotherhood that remains between them. Pyrrha going ten thousand years dying both literally and for a smoke (and then Camilla sold her fucking cigarettes (for a third of what they were worth, probably Pyrrha's own good, and also more importantly grocery money). what an entirely haunted time to be alive etc.). Augustine and Mercy trading a cigarette back and forth in the middle of their collusion over the love and murder of god.

An act of small and measured self-destruction in the name of something a little bit like connection when you're stuck somewhere in yourself where love itself dares not or cannot tread (ritualized, transmissible)..........

#the unwanted guest #the unwanted guest spoilers #the locked tomb #ianthe tridentarius #augustine the first #pyrrha dve #palamedes sextus #this series is going to make me lose my mind completely one day (affectionate) #the locked tomb meta #the fact that ianthe seems to have had some genuine admiration for augustine makes my head spin. of course though. #of course she sees the person who looks the most like he's successfully made himself impervious to the world #utterly untouchable and impossible to hurt because he isn't even really there #and she believes it! even after seeing the john mercy augustine mess at the end! because it's such a seductive idea #when you've stuck yourself in an inevitable ocean of pain to think you could make yourself numb enough that it doesn't matter #it's the emotional equivalent of 'oh there's water all around? well I just won't breathe in then. easy lmao get on my level' #she holds on to that thing from him even when it's been proved to be both impossible and ultimately untrue even in him #because uh. oh I'm about to be kind of sad for ianthe what the fuck is going on. he might actually have been the closest thing #to parental and especially paternal affection she's ever known. certainly known enough to try to model herself after #IMAGINE how fucked up the nine houses must be when augustine the first registers for anyone as a model of psychological survival #ianthe do you really want to be yourself completely so much that you're willing to be nothing. I mean yeah probably but. oh my god #gaining nothing at the cost of everything

[numericalbridge]

i think it is especially hilarious that the fandom made such a big deal out of Darius' "only the small ones will get eaten" moment, considering:

how many times characters try to eat someone; not to mention many gags where the core characters are comicaly callous in inappropriate moments. And that Darius' line was framed similary as a comedic moment in canon!

#i didn't even like that scene because i think the time would have been better spent on explaining his motivations #but it is not different from any other instance of dark humour 101 in the series #darius deamonne #toh darius #the owl house #also amity's hands look so weird in the screenshot somehow it looks like she has way more fingers than in reality #darius rewatch meta #toh rewatch numericalbridge

[wen-kexing-apologist]

On the Subject of Pat 2.0

Hello! It’s your resident 25 year old working their first job out of grad school with no family in the area and a friend group that is comprised mostly of people older than them here to talk about "Pat" Phakphum Tangwatthana another resident 25 year old working his first job out of grad school with no family in the area and a friend group that is comprised mostly of people older than him. 

I have seen some confusion or distaste around Pat and Pat’s storyline in the most recent episode, and I understand the criticism around the editing needing to be tighter, but I do just want to talk about my own perceptions of Pat and why I didn’t need any more explicit explanations for his behavior than we already got. 

It’s essay time :D

Pat and his emotions in Episode 9: 

We start the episode on Pat’s point of view, cutting back to the previous evening and establishing Pat’s level of inebriation

Gif from @pharawee

Everything is ghosting and blurry and it is very clear that Pat was out of his head if not out of his body when he was having fun with Jeng on the dance floor. This is evidence enough as far as I am concerned that Pat had absolutely zero knowledge of Jeng’s dance floor confession. But what he does remember is learning Jeng is queer. Which as we are all aware, rocks his fucking world. 

Now, I wrote in my previous timeline that narratively, Pat has never had the time to contemplate the sexuality of his boss. At the very beginning, he spills glass jelly on Jeng’s shoe and meets a kind and very attractive man, and then he just simps over this very Lorge Man for awhile while Jeng is actively trying to manage a crush on an employee because he understands would be a huge HR Violation if he were to try to pursue that thread. But Pat has been flirting hard, in ways that are obvious if you are queer and able to identify them, but less so if you are straight and don’t automatically look at the level of familiarity as flirting. However, we have to look at when, where, and how Pat and Jeng break their professionalism and where they maintain it.

Pat only initiates the break in professionalism when he is drunk and/or out of the office. His criticisms of Jeng he gives in the review? Drunk. His commentary about how when he first met Jeng he was nice and he is having a hard time reconciling that Jeng with micromanaging boss Jeng? Drunk. Hanging all over him and tugging at his shirt? Drunk. Hanging all over him and tugging at his shirt round 2? Drunk. 

The rest Jeng initiates. He engineers the dinner in his office, he asks Pat to come over on Sunday to work, he suggests Pat get ready at his apartment, he suggests he and Pat share a hotel room, he asks Pat to accompany him to the furniture store, he calls the video of drunk!Pat cute, he asks Pat to go on the restaurant tour with him. 

So, from this we know that Pat is aware enough of the office gossip and when in control of his mental faculties, is able to temper his feelings towards Jeng while at work. And that Jeng has been simping hard from the beginning, and Pat has been reciprocating the energy whenever Jeng starts the interaction. 

But we also know that Pat has a difficult time handling his other emotions, especially while at work. Partially because he is young, partially because he is exploited, partially because he is almost certainly spending a lot of his time focusing on a) not having a meltdown and b) not hitting on his boss in front of his coworkers. 

Anyway, the timeline of Pat’s immediate emotions around Jeng’s sexuality confession I have previously outlined so just keep that in mind while I continue to ramble about Pat in this episode. 

Pat learns Jeng is gay, freaks out about it because Jeng is fully aware of everything Pat has been doing, and Pat is fully aware that Jeng has been intentionally flirting with him this whole time. Spirals about it in his dreams the whole night and wakes up hungover and having an existential crisis about what the fuck comes next for him. 

He takes the day off, tries to give himself some space to think, process, reassess, and figure out his next steps. But instead…his Mom is in town, and in his kitchen, cooking him breakfast. 

What is she doing here? He doesn’t know, it’s a surprise, and a good surprise because we know he has a good relationship to his parents, and you can tell that from the way he interacts with his mother. But a mother is going to mother, so she’s going to comment on his eating habits, and he’s going to lie about how often he eats instant noodles, and she’s going to check in on his health, having seen him absolutely plastered the previous evening, and she is going to ask about the very kind and handsome man that helped Pat home and made sure he was safe. 

And she’s going to say a passing comment about Pat being a burden to his friend.

Which, looking at Pat’s face here, was not really what he wants to be hearing at this particular moment. Not when he is trying to get Jeng out of his head, not when he is trying to create space to figure out what he is feeling about that entire situation, the reality that he could have what he wants, the understanding that Jeng has been wise to Pat’s attraction to him this whole time. Not when he got in to that whole situation with Jeng last night because he was trying to distract himself from being sad about breaking up with Put. His parents live in another country, they have no idea what is going on in his life, his mother sees her son was out with a nice man and so has no reason to suspect something would have been wrong. So she stumbles right in to one of Pat’s sore spots. 

“Where did you meet him?” she asks and Pat’s goes:

If anyone needs a live action shocked pikachu face, look no further. He knows he cannot tell her. He knows what it would sound like, what it would seem like, how inappropriate it would appear for him to say “I met him at work” and even more so if he has to say “that is my boss.” 

He’s had the realization that Jeng is gay, and therefore that a relationship between Jeng and Pat is possible, and he is now having the realization of just how bad it would appear to literally anyone on the outside. Even now, even before they are dating, when they are just coworkers and friends, his mother knowing that he was out, late at night, that drunk around his boss??? Absolutely not. Pat recognizes that and quickly shifts the focus of the conversation away from Jeng, asking his mother about a doctor’s appointment she is supposed to be getting to. 

Another outfit, and another day has passed. Pat is staring at the stuffed tiger that he got on his furniture -date- shopping trip with Jeng. A stuffed animal that he has been using as a replacement for the shark stuffed animal that he had when he was with Put and that Put has used to manipulate Pat into talking to him and into considering re-entering into a relationship with him. This tiger here is serving as both a reminder of Put, the fact that Pat was unable to love Put because of his feelings for Jeng, and as a reminder of Jeng, whose sexuality, level of availability, and messy HR potentiality are all front and center in Pat’s mind. So he hides the tiger away in a drawer where he doesn’t have to look at it, so that he isn’t faced with a constant reminder of the personal crises in his life, because he is young, and his parents are here, and he’s never experienced this particular combination of emotions before, and to talk to his parents about his dilemma he would have to explain this situation to his parents and I don’t think Pat believes he can talk to anyone about it. Because all of his friends besides Ae are friends from work, Jaab is Jeng’s brother, Jen and Jaab are going through it and Jen is quitting, Kanon was on the production team and Kanon is married to Ae so whatever Pat says to Ae may get back to Kanon pretty quickly. Chot is fully incorporated into the office life and is fully aware of what is going on (and in fact may think Pat and Jeng are much further ahead in their relationship than they are) but Pat thinks he’s being sly about his feelings for Jeng, and Chot being directly in the office rather than on an outside production team is not going to be a draw to talking about his feelings for his boss. 

Meanwhile, Jeng is approaching the other queer in the office to ask if Chot has seen Pat cause he hasn’t been in the office in a few days and realizes that Pat is taking days off without even

notifying him. Readers, I do not need to show you Chot’s face throughout all of this. Chot is 150% convinced that Jeng and Pat are in the middle of a lover’s quarrel. I need a Chot live reaction to finding out that Pat and Jeng haven’t fucked yet, and a gravestone for Chot when he learns that Pat thought Jeng was straight. 

Alright, so, Jeng is in his sad boy hours clearly pining after Pat in the office in front of Chot, but pushes that all back down in order to perform his necessary duties as a boss. Jeng too, is trying to keep control of his emotions, but will end up losing his grip of them and having an utter break down. 

But this is not about Jeng, this is about Pat 

Pat’s Mom is here, but she’s settled in, and Pat’s off work, so maybe now he has time to try to process some of his emotions? 

Nope! Dad appears!

And what? Another surprise! Another parent coming to stay at his house without warning, and for what reason? 

…

Oh. 

Oh shit. 

Pat has completely lost track of the passage of time. Which hey, works for Ae going from 0 to 30 weeks out of nowhere. Why does his Dad come to Thailand around this time every year? 

It’s almost Pat’s birthday, and Pat has completely forgotten. This man has been juggling all of his work, a ton of his coworkers assignments, MLM schemes (the only mlm Pat is interested in is…nevermind), the Forge project, The Forge commercial shoot, leading the commercial shoot, his relationship with Put, his breakup with Put, navigating remaining professional in a workspace with his recent ex when emotions are still raw, and his mounting feelings for actually gay actually single hot boss man. On top of that, Pat is living alone, surviving off of ramen noodles, and (iirc) waiting to see if he makes it past the probationary period and is actually going to be allowed to stay on as an employee when that window is over. Jen is an adult, and not one Pat knows very well, Chot has his shit together and is engaged, Ae and Kanon are adults, married, and soon-to-be-parents, and Jaab is his age but is just as much if not more of a hot mess than Pat is. Pat gets convinced to go on that restaurant tour by Ae and their other friend, but those two are straight and therefore will not get what Pat is spiraling about after finding out Jeng is gay. So where can Pat go? Who can he turn to for advice? Who is going to have the time and the understanding and the patience to help him navigate all of these rising pressures? 

Well, we get a good indication, of where that is heading because Pat’s dad takes one look at Pat’s utter shock at realizing that he has forgotten his own birthday and states: 

Life must be pretty hard lately. His father is in the know, he’s gettin’ wise, gettin’ with it. It’s a great dynamic of Pat pretending to be fine for the sake of his mother, and then having no ability to hide from his father because the initial shock of the realization meant he wasn’t able to mask his emotional state. 

He burns his ramen noodles, his father cooks for him. Gives him vegetables. Calls it like it is in Pat’s life even though he doesn’t have the full context. 

Pat returns to work, and Chot starts doing his gay fairy godmother deal, vague-posting about what he thinks Pat’s problem is through the lens of his own issues. He knows Pat is young, and Pat is coming out of a relationship, and that Pat does not have a lot of guidance on the whole Being Gay in Thailand thing, despite being pretty comfortable in his sexuality and navigating his relationship with Put pretty maturely, if we’re honest. Chot is reaching out, Chot is extending the hand, Chot is trying to turn the tide of their relationship from just work friends to friends who can rely on one another in their personal life.

Now, Pat has been dissociating for the entire conversation thus far, because realizing he has forgotten his birthday because he’s been so caught up in everything has started his death spiral. When Jeng came out he tripped into it and was gripping at the edge of his remaining sanity by trying to give himself time and space to work through his emotions, but the arrival of his father and the understanding that he has not been thinking about himself for however long is what starts this final (and ultimately unsuccessful) attempt at managing his emotional state. 

But Chot’s admission that being gay is hard for Krit, snaps Pat out of it a little bit, and we get Pat’s “At least he’s straightforward with showing you that he loves you” and now…Pat has not been paying a whole lot of attention to what Chot was saying, so this is either Pat being very good at processing information while dissociating, and/or Pat picking up on the part of the story that is most relevant to him and attaching his own frustrations with his current situation to it. 

“At least he is straightforward with showing you that he loves you” 

Okay, so let’s explore who this is about. That’s right. It’s about literally every possible romantic pursuit of his in the last few weeks/months. Put, MLM guy, and Jeng. 

On the Put end of things, Put left Pat two years prior, valuing his job over his relationship with Pat while simultaneously struggling with his own queerness. When Pat and Put get back together, Pat pours his whole heart and soul into trying to make the relationship work. Because he needs it to work. Because he’s in love with his boss and he can’t be in love with his boss because that way madness (and job loss) lies. We do see moments of them being lovey-dovey, we see moments of flirtation, but the show is extremely intentional about showing that Pat and Put’s relationship is not a happy one. Put ignores Pat over dinner, that dinner scene where Put is mostly focused on his cellphone is dimly and cooly lit, with the tiniest smidge of warmth behind Pat and nothing anywhere close to Put. 

They make out in a hotel and Pat asks if Put likes him, and Put does not give him an answer, he just flips the question back around on Pat. Pat doesn’t answer either, not at first, he just kisses Put, and then realizes that it doesn’t feel the way it used to, and whatever feelings he may have had for Put before are no longer there. Because he is in love with his boss. So he leaves Put and goes to the party to seek out the person he wants to be around/with. When Pat breaks up with Put he calls him out on his attempts to manipulate him. So Pat is sad about the break up, sure, and he is allowed to be. But he is also reconciling here with the fact that Put never showed interest in him, unless and until Pat was threatening to leave. 

Then we get MLM guy, who is very forward in his interest with Pat. Pat is picking up what MLM guy is putting down (he thinks), and gets all excited about the prospect of having another Hot Tall Boi to channel his energy into so that he isn’t left to think about Jeng or Put’s return to Thailand. Pat is excited for the “date” and is devastated when it turns out this man wasn’t interested in him at all, he just wants him to join a multilevel marketing scheme. After which Pat is harassed at work and hounded by this man until he is literally threatened. So now Pat has to grapple also with the knowledge that the one person who seemed to be obviously, openly interested in him, was just using those emotions to get something out of him. Yet another manipulation.  On the Jeng end of things, Jeng is forced to be subtle about his love for Pat by nature of the power imbalance inherent in a boss and employee relationship. Jeng has been intentionally engineering his romantic advances to have as much plausible deniability as possible. Which means, Pat, thinking that Jeng is straight, has not picked up on them. Or rather has convinced himself that Jeng wasn’t being intentional about making moves. If Jeng had been more obvious, had pursued him the way that Pat is used to being pursued, that is, more explicitly, if Jeng had even been more obviously queer, then Pat would have known immediately. But Pat has a luxury that Jeng and even Put do not, which is that him being clockable will not ruin his whole life the way that Put and Jeng as famous, prominent people would run the gauntlet if that information were to get out. Put says it himself in Episode 8: “A famous person like you might not be able to come out a lot, right?”

Jeng isn’t clockable as queer to the average person, and as Pat has been actively trying not to read into things, and has been trying to rein in his own horniness for Jeng, Jeng isn’t clockable to him either. SO…all of this to say that Pat feels that Put was not straightforward with their love, and that Jeng has been disguising all of his attempts at wooing Pat under a safety blanket of work. So Pat is feeling primarily hurt, lied to, and betrayed. 

So, what we end up getting with Jeng is…manipulation. He has manipulated every situation to get Pat and him alone together, while at the same time not clueing Pat in to the fact that is what he was doing. While additionally not clueing Pat in to the fact he is gay. While also not clueing Pat into the fact that he’s Jaab’s brother until Pat literally walks into the middle of an interaction between Jaab and Jeng. While also not initially clueing Pat in to the fact he is Pat’s boss even after Jeng realized. 

The past two people that Pat has been interested in have manipulated him over and over again. 

His coworkers have manipulated him over and over again. 

How else is Pat supposed to see Jeng not being explicit about his feelings? He’s being manipulated once again by Jeng not saying anything. 

Chot lets Pat know that he can talk to him about anything, and Pat says “it’s ok, it’ll pass”. 

Why is that relevant? CAUSE OF PARALLELS THAT COME LATER. 

Anyway, Pat is giving an explicit invitation to talk about his feelings, and he brushes it off. Because Chot is an office friend in his office where his boss who he is having feelings about works, and Pat is very much oblivious to the fact that any gay within a 20 mile radius can see what is going on between Pat and Jeng. So he thinks he can’t be honest. Because that puts him and Jeng both in a sticky situation. 

So he puts on a brave face, because he thinks that he can, because Jeng isn’t supposed to be in the office today. Because Chot told Pat that Jeng was out and Chot was covering. (Yet another reason why Pat may not want to talk to Chot about Jeng, Chot is literally acting as his boss right now). Because the thoughts Pat is having, the feelings that he is having, they are manageable so long as Pat does not have to face Jeng…

Except Jeng appears. On a day that he is most definitely not supposed to be here. They are at working, they are at work. Jeng does exactly what Pat has just indirectly told Chot he wishes someone would do. 

He pulls a “boyfriend” and gives his jacket to his freezing love interest. 

Now, is this something Jeng would do in the office? I fucking hope not. But currently, Jeng and Pat are sitting in the back of a dark room, with literally all the other queer people in the office. This is a safe space, this is a shelter. It’s why and how Jeng and Pat’s closeness has progressed in the most recent episodes. Because they have been away from the physical office space, around the straight and sometimes homophobic coworkers, and instead, on set with literally every gay boy known to Man. Jeng knows Chot knows, Jeng knows Jaab knows, having realized that Pat had no idea that he was gay, Jeng has decided he has been approaching things wrong, and gets bolder. 

But, Pat has a) still not processed everything, b) is still oblivious to the fact that everyone around him knows exactly what is happening, c) is in the office, and d) is in the office with JENG who Pat was explicitly told would not be there. So you can imagine the stress he is under, and you can imagine with his track-record of manipulative men, that he is thinking very much that Jeng is playing with his emotions. 

Because Jeng is playing with his emotions. Not intentionally. But Pat himself has never experienced this particular set of challenges before and Jeng is always on the brain. Pat’s emotional state is out of whack and it is at least 50% Jeng’s fault. Pat, again very maturely, hands that token of affection off to Chot, so that it will seem like nothing. So that it will read as nothing to anyone around him. Because Pat doesn’t know that they know. 

Pat, who has still not had the opportunity to get the time and space that he needs from Jeng, because his parents are in town on an extended stay, because he had to go back to work eventually, because Jeng is now right there, once again does the mature thing, and walks away from the situation. He makes space. 

Jeng follows after him, which again, makes it extremely obvious that Jeng is acting inappropriately close to Pat. But Jeng knows everyone in the room knows, which is why he can get away with it. But Pat just wants to be alone and Jeng is not letting him. 

They retreat to an isolated corner. Where they have one of the juiciest conversations to date: 

Jeng: “Did I make you uncomfortable in any way?’

Pat: “No, I’m just tired,” 

Jeng: “Is it my fault?” 

Pat: “No,” 

Jeng: “I’m sorry” 

Pat: “Why are you saying sorry to me, when I said it wasn’t your fault?” 

Jeng: “You didn’t answer my text, ever since that day”

Pat: “Mr. Jeng, could you stop texting me? If it’s not work related. Don’t invite me to go eat. Don’t drop me off at home.”

And Pat says all of this without making eye contact with Jeng. When he finally does look up? He can see how devastated Jeng looks.

It confuses him in fact, to see this strong of an emotional reaction to Pat drawing these boundaries. Because, while Pat has not explicitly stated this yet, he thinks Jeng is fucking with him. This reaction is running very counter to what Pat is anticipating from this conversation. 

So he has to say something else to fill the silence, and to soften the blow: 

“Uh…I want to thank you. Thank you for everything. But please don’t do it again. Especially in front of everyone.”

“I can’t say no.” 

And I take this two ways coming from Pat. First that Jeng being his boss puts Pat in the terrible situation of potentially not feeling comfortable saying no to Jeng. Because Jeng has power over Pat, even though we all know (or I at least hope based on this entire show so far) that Jeng is not the type of person that would take a personal vendetta out on Pat for rejecting his advances in the office” 

Which is why I want to take a secondary lens to this conversation, and read that “I can’t say no” line as a double entendre. Jeng has let Pat know he is gay, Pat has placed all of their interactions into the context of that new information, Pat has realized that Jeng has been pursuing him this whole time. Pat realizes there may be reciprocated feelings involved. Pat tells Chot indirectly that he wants someone to be straightforward in their love. Jeng gives him the jacket. Pat has now been offered a much more clear admission from Jeng about his interest. Pat has feelings for Jeng. Pat has very strong feelings for Jeng. Pat hangs off of Jeng at every given opportunity the second he is out of his head. If Jeng pursues him, if Jeng is genuinely interested in him, if these feelings he has are reciprocated, and Jeng does not give Pat space. Pat will give in to his feelings and they will start an incredibly inappropriate workplace relationship. 

Pat can’t say no because Jeng is his boss, and Pat can’t say no because he’s been DTF from the moment he laid his eyes on Jeng. 

And again, I argue that Pat has actually been navigating this entire situation incredibly maturely. He removes himself from situations where he may be seen engaging in inappropriate workplace relations, and sets firm boundaries around what type of contact he and Jeng can have. 

Pat tries to leave, Jeng pulls him back, wraps him in a hug, and does the thing Pat wishes people would do and is straightforward in his love for Pat: 

Gif from @bellepark

Now here is where shit gets fun (read: terrible) for Pat emotionally. Because, ya know, he hasn’t already been dealing with enough shit. Pat sees Jeng: handsome, rich, successful, talented and cannot possibly fathom a reality where Jeng is actually in to him, a 25 year old in his first job, no wealth, no successful business ventures, who is feeling very much like the is untalented because of Chris’ mom on the commercial set. Jeng is everything, Jeng has everything, what could Pat possibly offer?

Gif from @bellepark

It legitimately does not compute. It is far, far simpler for Pat to assume that Jeng is fucking with him, toying with his emotions, possibly even trying to get Pat to admit to feelings so he can turn around and have him fired. 

And If it is true that Jeng likes him, then how much has Jeng’s crush impacted his ability to accurately critique Pat? Was Pat only told that he was doing a good job by Jeng because Jeng had a crush? Was Pat given the commercial spot because Jeng had a crush? Is Pat even good at anything or does Jeng just want to fuck him and is therefore elevating his positions in order to leverage Pat’s growing importance to get Pat to do what he wants?  

Pat has spent too much time lately being manipulated and being bullied and that is where he is coming from in his interaction with Jeng here. He is young, he does not understand what Jeng could possibly, legitimately want in a relationship with him, and if he lets himself believe that it makes sense for them to be together, then he will not be able to stop himself from getting in to a very dicey HR situation.

Jeng goes home, has a #hotgirlmeltdown and this is where I bring up the parallel that Pat told Chot “It’ll pass” and unfortunately for me Gaga has made it so that when I screenshot I get a black screen so I can’t capture the translation there. But I will just write it down: 

“I can handle it…I think I can…I’m fine,” 

It reminds me of Pat saying “it’s okay, it’ll pass” 

Both of them are lying, but Pat was detached from his feelings when he lied whereas Jeng is consumed by his. 

But this is not about Jeng, this is about Pat so we are gonna cut to Jen’s going away party. 

Pat is wearing the same outfit as when Jeng confessed and Pat rejected Jeng so we know that Pat is coming in to this party riding a massive emotional wave, and trying to temper that storm. Because he doesn’t have time to process that right now, because this is Jen’s party, and because Ae sees Jen sulking and hands Pat the responsibility of talking with him: 

Pat is gonna have to compartmentalize whatever feelings he is having to go handle Jen’s emotional state. 

The significant beats I picked up on in this conversation with Jen are the following: 

Pat saying he wished he had a home in another province to go back to 

Jen saying it is a safe zone for him 

Pat having the reality of being able to run away from his problems immediately crushed by Jen saying that he cannot pursue his dreams back home because everything is in Bangkok 

Pat having the reality of being able to run away from his problems crushed again when Jen says “Well, everything is here and look at how bad it is” 

Jen brushes off his own feelings and asks Pat how he is doing, and here is the crucial part. Huge shout out to @lurkingshan for pointing this out in a conversation we had last night. Jen is quitting. Jen is no longer a coworker to Pat. Pat has someone who is gay, who is no longer going to be involved in company business, and who is moving home to another province and therefore Pat can feel comfortable being honest because Jen is about to become very detached from his world.

“I don’t know, I’m very confused,” Pat says. And this is the first time he has voiced an emotion since he told Jeng he was sad about his break up with Put.

“Is it Mr. Jeng?” 

Pat has his shit rocked by Jen asking him about Jeng so casually, like it is no big deal, like he is In The Know. Pat has really been operating under the assumption that no one could tell he had a crush on Jeng. 

“These two brothers are the same” Jen gets it. Jen is telling Pat he gets it, and he’s telling Pat that neither Jeng nor Pat have been slick. 

“I don’t know, it’s like he’s playing with my feelings,” 

And I know this line may be a point of confusion for some people, because we know that Jeng is being sincere. We know, as an audience, how much of a fucking simp Jeng is for Pat. Jeng would crawl on his hands and knees for Pat. Jeng would almost certainly renounce his family and his title and his wealth for Pat. And if we didn’t get that from the last eight episodes, we are explicitly told how much Jeng likes Pat immediately before this scene. Pat consumed every waking thought in Jeng’s head. WE know this. Pat does not. 

Pat thinks Jeng is playing with his feelings because of what I outline earlier re: all the manipulation Pat has been through recently with MLM guy, with Put, and with the situations Jeng has manipulated to get them alone together. 

Pat believes Jeng is too good to be true, because he’s moved past the stage in the office job where he was so burnt out, stressed out, and exploited that every piece of constructive criticism felt like a personal attack. Pat isn’t angry at his workplace anymore, and therefore isn’t channeling his rage at Jeng anymore, and therefore isn’t focusing on Jeng’s flaws anymore, and as a result thinks Jeng reciprocating Pat’s feelings is too good to be true. Also because Pat doesn’t trust himself. Pat doesn’t see the parts of himself that Jeng sees. Pat doesn’t know why Jeng would like hin because Pat doesn’t understand the ways in which Pat brings life and joy and play in to Jeng’s otherwise extremely serious, almost entirely work-related life. 

But Jen will not let Pat have that. Jen is older, Jen is wiser, Jen is an outside, relatively neutral third party where Pat and Jeng are concerned (Jaab is a whole ‘nother story). Jen can understand where and how Jeng and Pat are good for each other, and as a result he is quick to tell Pat not to sell himself short. 

And he gives one of the most important pieces of advice that he can give to Pat is that if Jeng truly likes him, he’d find a way to tell Pat. 

This singular piece of advice is going to save their relationship I tell you. 

Whatever hope, whatever resolve that Pat has to navigate this storm. To figure out if Jeng actually likes him, if Jeng will do something that convinces Pat that he’s serious is crushed the instant Chot tells Pat that Jeng resigned. 

Now, those of us in the workforce should be screaming “FUCK YEAH!” because Jeng is taking the responsible adult route by stepping away from his role as boss. Which, if Pat and Jeng were to get together would eliminate any conflict of interest, and if Pat and Jeng weren’t to get together would eliminate any fears Pat would have about Jeng a) harassing him b) firing him or c) retaliating for Pat’s previous rejection. 

But…to Pat?! Well, he’s just ruined Jeng’s life. Jeng quit his job, from the company that he built. Pat understands that between Jeng’s position and Pat’s position, Pat is by far the more replaceable of the two. This is Jeng’s family’s company. Pat has realized that he fucked up. Pat is realizing that Jeng is not overstepping boundaries because he is trying to harass Pat, but because he has genuine feelings because the second Pat said to keep it work-only Jeng up and fucking left so that Pat wouldn’t have to worry about seeing him around. 

Pat is thinking, Pat is contemplating, Pat is dissociating, and as he goes to wander like a zombie back to his house at the end of the day, SURPRISE Happy Birthday, Pat! Mr. Jeng baked you a cake! 

AND THIS IS A LOT TO PROCESS CONSIDERING THAT PAT FORGOT HIS OWN BIRTHDAY! But Jeng remembered, and Jeng made something for him. I would love to go on and on and on and on about the lighting in this scene, but this write up is, as usual, far far longer than I anticipated, and a lot of the lighting details were covered in this phenomenal post by @istanchan

So we are just gonna go with the major take away from this scene. The flame is ignited between Pat and Jeng, Jeng is out of focus, and when Pat blows out the candles, extinguishing the flame, Jeng comes in to focus. Pat is now forced to face his feelings about Jeng, in a way he has been desperately trying to suppress for however long of a time frame this episode covers. 

Pat goes home, yet again dissociating because the second that he reattaches his consciousness to his body he knows its fucking over. 

And at this point, Pat has exhausted all avenues. He tried to get over his initial crush on Jeng by dating Put, and realized that he was not actually interested in that relationship. He tried to give himself distance and time to process his emotions immediately following the coming out incident, and was interrupted by his mother, he tried to brush off his feelings in the hope that they would pass, he returned to work and tried to get back into the groove of things under the safe assumption that Jeng would not be there, only to have Jeng show up. He asked Jeng to keep their interactions work related only to have Jeng hug him and tell him he really likes him, he started to have a conversation about his feelings with the only person who would understand, who is about to leave the province, and he maybe is feeling a bit better, and certainly more resolved. We can tell that also in the way that Pat approaches Jeng’s office after his talk with Jen, only to have the rug pulled out from under him with the update that Jeng has resigned. 

He has tried and tried and tried to get over Jeng. He has tried and tried and tried to convince himself that Jeng can’t actually possibly like him back. This man has tried. And he can’t take it anymore. He sits down, his parents sing him happy birthday, they immediately pick up on the fact that Pat isn’t doing well, and they ask the fateful question: 

And this is the first time Pat has really had to sit and process everything. This is the point where he settles down, both exhausted and having exhausted all other options…and everything hits at once. 

“This is the year I forgot my own birthday” my life has been so busy and chaotic I have fully lost track of time (starting a new job, being exploited at new job, getting new boss, getting micromanaged by new boss, being hate crimed at work by my coworkers, best friend gets pregnant, working to get Forge client secured, trying to do 90% of the labor in a one sided relationship with Put, filming Forge commercial and trying to convince the Forge people that he is competent)

“I even forgot that you’d come back to see me every year,” I am a bad child for forgetting my parents would come to visit. 

“It’s like I focused on everything except myself,” I have been avoiding my own feelings and focusing on others (i have been suppressing my feelings for Jeng, I have been trying to put those feelings elsewhere, I poured all my energy in to work and in to the MLM guy and in to Put)

“But I don’t know how to deal with this feeling,” I have tried fucking everything I know to manage my emotional state, which I know is already a weak spot of mine and something I am actively working on and nothing I have tried has brought me even remotely close to working through these emotions. 

His parents immediately jump in to help, but the problem is Pat without context is not making a ton of sense, and the only thing they really have to latch on to is “I don’t know how to deal with this feeling” and his parents give him a hard truth. 

“You can’t escape anywhere.” 

It was something that Pat started to realize in his conversation with Jen, when he told Jen he wished he had a house to escape to, and Jen reminded him that he could have no dreams there. But Jen is heartbroken and fleeing from the bad things in his life, so it hits a little different when Pat’s parents, who he loves, who seem to generally have their lives together, who are divorced but still clearly get along, who love and care for one another despite no longer being married, and who are emotionally very mature, and shining examples to Pat of how to navigate emotional turmoil look right at him and say “you can’t escape this feeling,” 

And Pat has a breakdown. 

Which, in my opinion, makes complete and total sense and is incredibly justified considering everything that he has been through in recent months. Everything that he has been trying to navigate and manage while he is alone in another country, away from his family, with no friends to talk to because of the ways they are connected to him. 

And doesn’t it just suck that you finally have the people who have supported you all your life look right at you and be unable to do anything but hold you through your tears. Physically he has support, but there is no way out of these emotions but through them. 

This is the release, and he still has a lot of shit to sort out, but he’s had a good cry and he’s ready to press on. He goes shopping with Ae, and while he does still seem distracted, he is doing better, he is participating in conversation rather than fully dissociating, he is teasing her (“can i have that cake?”) so he is moving more towards a point of equilibrium. Ae has her baby, makes him an uncle, and that is enough to shake Pat out of the depression spiral he has been in because look at the amazing miracle of life he has just witnessed. 

He returns home from another chaotic and exhausting evening (helping his bestie deliver her baby on the back of a bus #casual) and finds a package waiting for him. 

An incredibly well utilized in-universe ad, of a snack Pat mentioned he liked once, in passing, months ago to Jeng. Jeng has always paid attention to Pat, and I don’t know how much attention Pat has allowed himself to pay to Jeng that would get him to realize that. It’s the aspect of this whole thing that Pat has not been ready or willing to acknowledge. Because the second he realizes that Jeng is gay, the depth of Jeng’s engagement and focus on Pat becomes a lot more clear.

Pat find the happy birthday note from Jeng and collapses on to the bed surrounded by the snacks to think about things. 

To think, in particular, about what Jen said about Jeng finding ways to show he cares if he is serious. 

It cuts to Jeng, who is being driven to the brink of madness, who has been trying to maintain distance, but needs more than life itself to let Pat know that he is serious. It has been days, days at least since he has last spoken to Pat, and he cannot stop thinking about the final thing Pat said to him “Why do you like me, it doesn’t make sense,” 

Jeng sends this message

And the episode ends before we see Pat get that text. I am very excited to see his reaction when he reads that, surrounded by wasabi peas. 

Now, maybe I am way way overanalyzing all of this because I will always come to Pat’s defense, maybe I am trying to convince people that if you just follow the lines and the lights and the body language everything you need to understand Pat is right there because there are so many parts of Pat that live in me, (though many that don’t), maybe I am blind to where the gaps in this episode rest when it comes to how they wrote Pat’s story, but I didn’t need more explicitly stated moments for Pat leading up to this breakdown because, well…

It makes sense to me. 

(thank you to anyone who made it to the end, I recognize this is a long post even for me, haha oopsie. I would be unsurprised if I hit 10 hours total of work on this post between screen-shotting, double checking scenes, and writing it)

#step by step #step by step the series #step by step analysis post #step by step meta #step by step discussion #jengpat #manben #ben bunyapol #man trisanu #dee hup house #jeng x pat #gonna have to start getting an editor on my posts or something to tone them down #damn #at least y'all are well trained in reading lots of text a la fanfiction style #maybe i can fool you in to reading this whole thing

[transbutchbluess]

i don’t see many theories about the Angel/Messenger in the locked tomb. mine is pretty obvious since it is just that they have something to do with Cassiopeia the First. the Sixth House is on Mercury. Mercury is the Roman God of travelers, and the Sixth is the only House that moved. He is also the god of messengers and communication. Cassiopeia had left secret instructions to her house, which indicates that she had probably betrayed Jod. she might also have had some contact with Blood of Eden ? an Angel is a Messenger (of God) (but that wouldn’t make much sense here). and Lyctors are sort of Angels (companions of God, also the equivalent to the angels in the EAP’s poem Annabel Lee), so i think the Messenger has something to do with one of the Lyctors. i think some people said that the message might be something about preserving culture through oral tradition (since BOE also does that with names), and the Sixth is the House with the library, the archivists, the scholars, and psychometry.

if you have any theories about the Messenger (or about anything really) please share, i’m very interested

#tlt spoilers #tlt series #tlt analysis #tlt meta #tlt #the locked tomb #the locked tomb analysis #the locked tomb theories #sixth house #tlt cassiopeia #tlt angel #tlt messenger #gtn #htn #ntn

[featherbreak]

Camilla Hect's sworddaggerknives: an exhaustingly comprehensive weapons inventory

(alternate title: "In Which Tamsyn Muir Tries to Kill Cosplayers with Imaginary Weapons", or "How to Consult a Swordfighter for the Fight Scenes but Not Give Nearly As Much of a Fuck About the Implements Used")

Written in hopes that this will either spare other Cam cosplayers some misery, or bring them to the commiseration station --

Gideon The Ninth - Canaan House Cam: In Which We Meet the Weapons Nerd of the Sixth

When we first encounter Camilla Hect, she's using a somewhat traditional sword + offhand combo against Gideon:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 12, bold emphasis mine, italics canon -

She dropped the wedge of sculpture with a clonk, drew her sword from its shabby scabbard before the wedge had bounced once, and advanced. Gideon, neurons blaring, drew her own. She slid her hand into her ebon gauntlet—the grey-cloaked girl let the flashlight fall, drew a knife with a liquid whisper from a holder across one shoulder—and their blades met high above their heads as the cavalier leapt, metal on metal ringing all around the chamber. ... Blow after lightning blow rattled her defences, each one coming down like an industrial crush press, the short offhand knife targeting the guard of Gideon’s blade. ... her opponent dropped as though shot, crouched, kicked her dagger up into her hand, and did a handspring backward down the stairs.

Anime physics aside, we have also immediately established Tamsyn Muir's love of using "dagger" and "knife" interchangeably. The sword is described as a rapier a paragraph later, at least:

Gideon was stronger; the girl’s arm was buckling—she brought up her rapier to harass Gideon’s blocking arm ...

We get a closer look at it in the duel against the Second:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 23, emphasis mine -

The rapier looked, like Gideon’s, maybe a million years old. It was the first time she had seen it in a good light, and here it looked as though it had never been designed to take an edge blow; the blade was light and delicate as a cobweb. The offhand looked like Camilla’s whole House had gone searching down the back of the sofa for weapons. They had come up with what looked more like a long hunting or hacking knife than a duelling dagger: thick, meaty, cross-guarded, with a single sharpened edge. The whole effect was sadly amateurish.

We quickly learn that she can still deliver a drubbing with this combo. However, it is not clear whether her offhand in this duel is the same knife as the one she fought Gideon with - which is described as a "short offhand knife" compared to the "long" knife against Marta - and we can call that into question more confidently once we learn that Cam is PACKING LOTS OF STEEL:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 27, emphasis mine -

There was no question about whether or not Camilla inhabited the horrible cot attached to the end, cavalier-style. It sagged beneath assorted weapons and tins of metal polish.

Gideon, being a weapons nerd herself, calls Cam on her setup bluff partly by elaborating on Cam's pile o' pointies:

“So, hey. What do you really use when you’re not pretending the rapier’s your main wield? Two short blades of equal length, or one blade and one baton?” Her keen eyes narrowed into black-lined slits. “How did I mess up?” she asked, eventually. “You drew your rapier and your dagger at the same time. And you’re ambidextrous. You keep cutting like both your blades are curved. Also, there’s six swords and a nightstick on your bed.” “Should’ve tidied my mess,” admitted Camilla. “Two blades. Double-edged.”

Gideon refers to Cam's offhand in the duel with the Second as a dagger here, too, despite having previously observed that it looked more like a knife. She also refers to all the blades on Cam's bed as "swords", but it's clearly a mix of blade types. Gideon is only as consistent or reliable a narrator as Tamsyn is; her terminology is equally laissez-faire.

Cam, meanwhile, is not more specific when she describes her main wields: they're just "blades." We finally meet them when shit hits the fan later on, but they are confounding:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 32, emphasis mine -

With only the faintest liquid whisper of metal on sheath, Camilla drew her swords. Gideon had never had the opportunity to study Camilla’s two short swords before: they were more like very long daggers, slightly curved at each end, wholly utilitarian.

So Gideon's observation that Cam cuts as if the blades are curved seems to hold water, but Cam specifically only identifies her blades as double-edged - which is much less common on curved blades longer than a few inches. In the same breath, they're implied to be shorter than short swords, but remarkable enough to call "very long" for daggers, which also means they're longer than the "knife" length in which having double edges is relatively common without making tradeoffs in durability/blade structure.

(This is where my brain broke.)

To add insult to injury, for the rest of the chapter, Tamsyn calls them knives:

Gideon The Ninth, chapter 36, emphasis mine -

She crashed into her from the side, her two knives flashing like signal lamps in the sunlit hall. ... Camilla Hect off the leash was like light moving across water. She punched her knives into the Lyctor’s guard over and over and over.

Well, mostly. That would be too easy. Here's the lone exception:

Camilla slumped next to her, swords crossed over her knees.

SWORDS AGAIN?

We also see Cam with a single knife. It's unclear if it's one of her main dual wields or another one she had stashed:

Camilla, as she’d seen from above, had caught up with Cytherea the First. She had one hand in the Lyctor’s singed curls, dragging her head back. The other hand pressed a knife against the smaller woman’s throat.

Whatever it is also is well-balanced enough to throw -

Her good arm was up behind her head, holding the blade of her knife. Gideon ducked. The knife whistled over the top of Gideon’s head in a flashing blur and buried itself in Cytherea’s upper back.

- which usually implies something shorter and less medieval dagger-y. Different knife? or more Anime Physics? We don't know.

In conclusion: Canaan House establishes Cam as Very Hot and Good At Pointy Objects. Who the fuck knows what they are, though.

---

Harrow the Ninth - Random Planet Encounter Cam: Still Kickin'

At this point, Cam has been chugging along under the tender mercies of BoE, hauling her pulverised necro around, and comes face to face with a delightfully lobotomized Harrow. She's still dual wielding, although whether they're her Canaan House blades is doubtful, and they're described as knives all the way through:

Harrow The Ninth, chapter 32, emphasis mine -

... you were astonished by the speed with which Hect drew those big, balanced knives from each shoulder, and hurled herself at your skeleton like a stone from a sling. Her first sweep with the butt of a knife shattered the ribcage—it coalesced back; you now disdained skeletons not made of permanent ash. ... Camilla Hect sheathed her knives with as much speed and fury as she had unsheathed them, and she said: “No sudden moves.”

Still a badass, obviously. And "big" knives seems to imply they're still of a long-dagger/short-short-sword length as Gideon described. "Butt" instead of "hilt" or similar terminology seems to imply they're more pedestrian than daggers. What the hell does Harrow mean by calling them "balanced", though?

Who the fuck knows. That's all we get. Onward to:

---

Nona the Ninth - New Rho Cam: More Badass & More Bonkers Than Ever

Cam is living her best worst best-given-the-circumstances guerrilla fighter rebel operative life. This means she's just...armed to the teeth all the goddamn time, and it's knives all the way down:

Nona The Ninth, chapter 2 -

... Camilla looked the person deep in their eyes and casually touched the hilt of the knife she kept down the waistband of her trousers, and then the person moved to the back of the queue.

Nona The Ninth, chapter 9 -

Camilla had been crouched down, wiping her knives on one of their jackets. ... Then she had equally normally set to putting her knives away – sticking them in the bands down her thighs, inside her trousers –

Nona The Ninth, chapter 12 -

Almost all of the knives Camilla had strapped to her got taken away, but not the very hidden knife, or at least the one hidden knife Nona knew about. There were probably more.

This could be because they're actually knives, or because Nona's vocabulary only goes so far, and her narration - backed by Tamsyn's established lackadaisical approach to pointy objects - is too simple for disambiguation.

To hint at this: when upon prepping for the final mission(s) of the book, Cam empties out the hidden armory, and Nona goes so far as to compare two of her blades to kitchen or filleting knives:

Nona The Ninth, chapter 22, emphasis mine -

Pash said, “Your people... that obsession with swords.” “We are our swords,” said Camilla. She shrugged on a criss-cross halter of black plastic straps and clipped it tight across the front of her chest, and then she opened a box and took out two long, plain knives, the type of thing they used to chop up fish at the market. All of Cam’s secret knife stash, Nona thought, numb with anticipation.

Cam seems to only say "swords" to mirror Pash philosophically, not to describe her weapons, but it's worth noting.

A detail that is mentioned once and then never brought up again, though, is that she's carrying at least four blades into the fight. Earlier in that chapter:

Camilla flipped open boxes and took out a belt, which she tied around her waist, and she secured a hook to the side of the belt. To this hook she reverently attached a long plain black scabbard, then a shorter plain black scabbard, and she tested the hilts in her hands.

So: two unseen blades of possibly different lengths - described only by the hilts, but stored in scabbards of two different lengths - in addition to "two long, plain knives" that are presumably stashed in the shoulder? back? chest? "criss-cross halter" holster situation. Or something.

Say it with me: WHO THE ACTUAL FUCK KNOWS.

Nona The Ninth, chapter 23, emphasis mine -

Just for shits and giggles, Tamsyn throws in the only use of "daggers" to describe Cam's weapons in the whole goddamn book right before the final duel with Ianthe:

The two uniformed soldier zombies knelt Camilla, roughly. They squeezed her wrists until, with an agonised hiss of breath, she dropped her daggers. They clattered softly on the carpet.

Her main dual wields of choice, this time, seem to be single-edged, likely the "fish knife" pair:

She mopped a little at her chest... she was bleeding freely and messily... and she picked up, from where they had fallen, her two long, plain, one-sided knives.

Even Ianthe agrees that they're knives:

“I didn’t mean to take anything to this planet I couldn’t replace,” said the Prince. “I shouldn’t have bothered. Why two knives?” “Shock and awe,” said Camilla.

And then Paul happens and my heart broke forever that brings us to the end of Camilla Hect As We Knew Her x Bladed Weapons OTP For Life is too short and love is too long.

So what's our takeaway on accurately portraying Camilla Hect, you might ask?

tl;dr: use whatever the fuck you want. go loud, Cams.

do not be like me and spend a cumulative 15-20 hours spread out over three weeks debating how to accurately portray her weapon shape because fanart seems to mostly depict her with daggers.

---

as for me? I've finally gone with utilitarian but elegant hunting daggers (long, cross-guarded, single-edged, curved at the end) for Canaan House Cam and a scrappy pair of Bowie knives for New Rho Cam, after polling a bunch of Cam fans; votes were overwhelmingly in favor of curved blades being more important than double edges. THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN.

with the utmost thanks and apologies to the patient & best beloved folks in the Library for responding to my Cam poll, and for emphasizing & reassuring me that cosplaying On Vibes is kosher and encouraged in this fandom

#double-edged blades that curve at the end and are longer than a dagger but shorter than a short sword? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE my head hurts #tazmuir's Final Fantasy fandom pedigree is REALLY SHOWING HERE #raise your hand if you've been personally victimized by tamsyn muir's approach to weapons #listen i know that any kind of realism is kind of besides the point in this damn series but could we get some CONSISTENCY #also who's going to write Cam using the nightstick? #insert magic stick joke here please and thank you #camilla hect #tlt cosplay #tlt meta #tlt canon analysis #the locked tomb #sixth house #the sixth house #camilla the sixth #the locked tomb meta #cosplay reference #the locked tomb cosplay #tlt cosplay reference #featherbreak rambles

[lemonhemlock]

I've tried to comprise a reply to this baffling take, as exhibited in the thread available here, but, surprise surprise, the reblog feature is not working anymore, so I'll just leave it down here, because I'm such a benevolent despot, willing to educate lost souls:

Except they're not. 🤡 No one in-universe believes Rhaenyra's children to be legitimate. We've already had this exact topic in the main series and, I promise you, that absolutely no one was arguing that Cersei's children are legitimate just because she officially claims as such.

Ned's accusation cost him his head and the North refused to acknowledge the rule of the Iron Throne any longer. Stannis declared himself the rightful King on the basis of Cersei's children being bastards. Then he sent a bunch of letters across the realm and enough lords stopped recognising Joffrey as King because he was revealed to be a bastard.

Do you think Stannis sent them a DNA test? A sex tape with Jaime & Cersei? No, this is what he wrote:

"All men know me for the trueborn son of Steffon Baratheon, Lord of Storm’s End, by his lady wife Cassana of House Estermont. I declare upon the honor of my House that my beloved brother Robert, our late king, left no trueborn issue of his body, the boy Joffrey, the boy Tommen, and the girl Myrcella being abominations born of incest between Cersei Lannister and her brother Jaime the Kingslayer. By right of birth and blood, I do this day lay claim to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Let all true men declare their loyalty. Done in the Light of the Lord, under the sign and seal of Stannis of House Baratheon, the First of His Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, and Lord of the Seven Kingdoms."

I could say the same thing as you and argue that Cersei claimed those children were Robert's, then Tywin and Jaime and Tyrion corroborated her claim. On his deathbed, under dictation, Robert names Ned Lord Regent "until my son Joffrey comes of age". Ned changes the words to "rightful heir" in the will.

So, going by that logic, you can argue that even Robert explicitly named Joffrey his son and heir, which would make Ned a traitor to the crown and Stannis a usurper. Yet this accusation of bastardy caused sufficient uproar within the Realm for the War of the Five Kings to break out. So, evidently, enough people were not okay with an illegitimate person as their King.

You can even draw a parallel between House Baratheon in ASOIAF rejecting Joffrey as a trueborn Baratheon and House Velaryon in HOTD rejecting Luke as a trueborn Velaryon.

#anti rhaenyra targaryen #anti jacaerys velaryon #anti lucerys velaryon #house of the dragon #asoiaf #gods be good #cersei's children being bastards is literally one of the main plot points of the series #never in my life did i think i would be standing here in front of you defending ned and stannis #hotd meta #bastardposting #cersei lannister #ned stark #stannis baratheon #forgive me cersei for draggin u like this

[chaos0pikachu]

tldr: the narrative is slut shame-y? has been for like 7 episodes, thanks for noticing

Okay this was originally part of a different meta but that was running away from me so I separated the two.

The Atom plotline really embodies, for me, that the narrative is slut-shame-y because of how it's handled and what characters are given empathy and what characters aren't and the difference between them.

So off the bat, Boston doesn't approach Atom with any thought of seducing him. He approaches him as a friend, listens repeatedly to Atom complain about his ex-girlfriend, and answers Atoms questions about his sexuality and relationships with frank honesty.

Atom then pursues Boston sexually, they sleep together, Boston doesn't answer Atom's texts, later rejects Atom b/c it was a one-night-stand and they both knew it, Atom gets angry and tells Cheum Boston tricked him into having sex, took his nude photos and was using said photos to blackmail him into continuing to have sex with Boston (so the threat of more assault).

(sidenote, would like to point out that Boston is actually the victim of having his consent violated twice via two separate cases of being record via audio & video during sex w/o his consent which we'll get to but like, the unintentional irony here)

Obviously, and understandably, Cheum is upset by this so she calls in her fellow Plastics and they confront Boston, he was pretty much out of the friend group but now he's out of the group project and has to "figure out how to graduate" on his own. I want to point out the tone of the dialogue and specific lines of the dialogue here:

Ray doesn't have any dialogue but I'm including his reaction shot here for a reason, just wait.

After Boston shows Cheum the photos, Boston pleads his case even saying: "I may be filthy, but not filthy enough to blackmail people to sleep with me."

Cheum responds with, "It doesn't matter who started it, he's my brother."

Which frames the "crime" as it were not just that Boston forced Atom into having sex (from Cheum's POV) but that Boston slept with him at all. Either way, no matter what is true, Cheum still views what Boston did as an offense, as another example of Boston being, well, a filthy whore.

Overall, what is the tone of the scene? It's a sense of righteousness, and one of comeuppance. We, the audience, know that Atom lied, but this scene doesn't allow for any empathy for Boston to be felt. To even be considered.

Mew all but suggests Boston is an animal, Cheum goes for the throat, Ray doesn't offer even a sympathetic look (again we'll get to that) even though Boston specifically looks at Ray for support. The dialogue, framing, direction, grouping - 3 against 1, two wronged parties (Mew & Cheum) against their the person who wronged them (Boston). The groups feelings are the focal point here, specifically Cheum's feelings.

So lets contrast this confrontation with Atom's confrontation in ep11.

When Boston and Nick confront Atom, who is the focal point of this conversation? Is it Boston? His feelings on the matter? How he's upset or hurt or feeling regarding this?

No, it's Atom:

Nick: Ton, take it easy/What you [Atom] did was wrong/Ton never forces anyone to sleep with him, no matter how terrible he is/you [Atom] don't have to go this far/it can ruin your [Atom's] future Atom: I just wanted you to love me the way I love you/but you turned me gay Nick: Ton easy/it must be something very new for him/I get you/I know how painful it is to love someone one-sidedly/you'll meet someone nice/don't fall for an asshole

I bolded parts of Nick's dialogue because like in the previous confrontation with Cheum/Mew/Ray the dialogue specifically points out that Boston is "filthy" "an asshole" to emphasize, lest the audience somehow forget, that Boston is a bad person. Even though in this situation Boston is the victim here.

Now let's bring back Ray's look of glee and contrast it with Nick's look of sympathy here.

Where as when Boston looked at Ray for support, and only got a gleeful look in return, Nick is showcasing genuine sympathy in this confrontation but towards who? Boston? Nope, it's Atom.

The entire conversation is centered around Atom, his feelings, his struggle, his sorrow, he is the focal point, he is the character of which the audience is supposed to sympathize which (like Cheum was in the previous confrontation) all of which in turn is set-up to justify his actions.

This is further emphasized by Atom's confession and conversation with Cheum later, which can be contrasted with Boston's conversation in ep10.

The dialogue between Boston and Nick is as follows:

Boston: My friends dumped me Nick: Serves you right. Considering what you did. Boston: If you're just here to add insult to injury just leave. Nick: Fine. I'm sorry. I won't say it. Boston: Why does everyone hate me? Why can't I stop doing shit to people?

I emphasize the last line because what did Boston do here? What exactly is he taking responsibility for? At worst he broke "friend code" by sleeping with a friends sibling but that should be irrelevant to the larger issue of Boston being accused of being a sex offender. Which Boston knows is a lie but doesn't say as much to Nick, Boston offers no defense of himself, he isn't given the grace to be mad at Atom for his lies. He's given no room to justify himself, this is meant to be a moment of self-actualization where Boston realizes "wow I am a bad person and need to change."

In a better written, more nuanced conversation, Boston would own up to his betrayal of Mew, & sleeping with Top whilst also defending himself against Atom's false accusations. Instead he takes responsibility for both incidents, even though he didn't do what Atom accused him of.

In Atom's confession to Cheum, Atom tells the truth yes, but he's also given grace to justify his actions. He was hurt Boston rejected him for a relationship, he wanted to make Boston pay, but the positive outcome of this is now he knows he likes men. Cheum hears all this, and she doesn't stop for a second to showcase any remorse towards Boston. She offers Atom compassion, understanding, she gently hugs him, she tells him "it's fine".

There's no dialogue incorporated into this conversation about how Boston didn't deserve this, that Atom was in the wrong, that either of them should apologize to Boston.

Boston laments that he "can't stop doing shit to people" after being accused of assault, Atom says his revenge was justified and Cheum agrees. The framing of the scene is in Atom's corner regarding this, the audience is meant to have empathy for Atom. While in Boston/Nick's convo the audience is meant to see this as Boston's big realization moment that yes, he is a bad person and needs to change.

But what makes Boston a bad person according to the narrative? I think that's summed up by Nick's dialogue in ep11 before they confront Atom:

Nick: Don't look for a new mess when you haven't cleaned up your old one. You sleep around to much and things get messy. Don't you learn?

This entire incident is not Boston's fault. Boston sleeping with someone consensually, yes even the sibling of a friend, does not justify being accused of sexual assault and blackmail. And yet, that's what the narrative is saying, directly, multiple times in framing, direction, and dialogue.

Boston is "an asshole" Boston is "filthy" Boston "keeps doing shit to people" Boston will "sleep with anything that breathes". The narrative frames Boston's flaw as his promiscuity.

It's why he gets no empathy within the narrative when Mew blackmails him with revenge porn, even though Mew knows this tape was taken without Boston's consent. It's why he gets no empathy within the narrative that Gap took this video without his consent (both subplots are promptly dropped after they serve as comeuppance for Boston). It's why the framing of Ray's cheating on Mew is framed completely differently from Boston and Top's betrayal/cheating. It's why Boston gets no empathy within the storyline in regards to Atom.

Yet Atom, who isn't a slut, who wanted a monogamous relationship, who wanted commitment, does get empathy. From Cheum, from Nick, from the narrative.

Boston can be selfish, Boston can be impulsive, Boston can be inconsiderate. But Boston being promiscuous shouldn't have been a flaw, it shouldn't have been the reason he's punished by the narrative over and over again.

And no, I don't think this is a subtle commentary on slut shaming in society, because if it was, the narrative would still offered Boston empathy and nuance. It would offer a counterpoint view. It would offer Boston a sympathetic glance. It wouldn't have made Atom the victim.

But in the end, Boston is just the whore to the other characters Madonna.

#only friends the series #boston ofts #chaos pikachu speaks #someone write me boston fanfic where he gets justice #justice for boston! #for a show that advertised itself as whores in this house it really evicted those whores and threw them out in the street huh #chaos pikachu metas

[iconsumethesoulsofthedamned]

I’m like one third of the way through dune messiah and here’s the thing the incest in dune has been bearable up until this point but if anything happens between my favorite girl Alia who’s currently 16 and my son Paul who’s 30 I will actually put down the book and never pick it up again.

His loyalty to and overwhelming love for Chani has been the highlight of the book so far get wrecked Irulan. I love you but the contraceptives and murder plot are going too far.

So it’s just that if something happens between him and his KID SISTER to fuck up his outstanding good partner streak with Chani i will lose my shit and explode and then die.

Like I was having an epic time all around then the reverend-mother was like ‘haha lmao Irulan you’re such a loser can’t even get Paul to get you preggy well i suppose we’ll have to look into ‘BROTHER SISTER CROSSBREEDING?!?’

I was like OH YOU FUCKING BETTER NOT LOOK INTO THAT INFACT I’M TAKING AWAY YOUR LOOKING INTO THINGS AND BREEDING PROGRAM PRIVILEGES FOR LIFE BYE.

And I just got through alia’s naked solo training session thing that Paul walks in on and I’m getting substantially worried Frank Herbert don’t you dare go there don’t you fucking dare.

Like I get it, it’s Dune, breeding program and incest are things that happen RIP Feyd you would’ve loved age of legal consent, but this is too much don’t go there I beg.

#dune #dune fandom #dune meta #dune messiah #book commentary #dune books #dune series #alia atreides #paul atreides #feyd rautha #house atreides #reverend mother #breeding program #spicy

[housepilled]

season 1 isn't my favorite season or anything, but it has my absolute favorite portrayal of house by far. he goes to patients' lacrosse games, does their prenatal care, talks with and follows up with them when it's completely narratively unnecessary (but in a good way; i just couldn't think of a less pejorative description). he's even kinder to his team. and best of all, he explains things — takes the time to argue for a risky treatment and has a clear basis for treating rather than testing. he's more grounded. he still does all this later in the series, of course, but as the seasons go on he seems more and more ashamed of his kindness and humanity. i think as the show progresses, it gets too used to itself, used to the fact that house just says rude things and does risky treatments because that's just "who he is". i am totally willing to make the argument that he gets flanderized in a way.

while i love later-seasons house, don't get me wrong, my favorite is always going to be the house who is the most grounded in reality. he's still scared of it, but he acts like a human. and that is who house really is to me — not the layers of sarcasm, bigotry, outlandish subplots and unrealistic procedure, but the guy who grumbles and groans about doing his job but secretly loves it and has the show making efforts to expose that secret. so yeah season 1 house supremacy

#house specifically in broken comes second in my favorite house characterizations lineup but not season 6 as a whole #because while he's kinder he's still at times a caricature of himself or at least far too comfortable with narrative conventions #as they use up more and more plots they have to escalate and make cases more dramatic and so house follows suit and i get it #i even love a ton of this drama #and i don't think he turns into a bad character by any means i think some of this even improves on his character #he just. you know. turns into a character #i don't even know if any of this is coherent much less a good analysis of the series/house #but fuck it that's like half of my posts i have no idea what i'm doing ever #house md #greg house #house md season 1 #analysis #meta

[duchess-of-oldtown]

I love Rodrik Harlaw because although he loves Asha, he's not really into the whole Iron Born thing. Yes, he's gone to war with Balon, he goes to the kingsmoot, he sails with Euron but he doesn't really believe in it. Anything not book related and he's like

#This man was done before the series even begun #And I respect him for that #Rodrik Harlaw #The Harlaw of harlaw #House harlaw #Harlaw #The Iron Born #the iron islands #The Iron isles #House Greyjoy #valyrian scrolls #Asha Greyjoy #balon greyjoy #euron greyjoy #Affc #Adwd #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #ASOIAF meta

[pheonixrainbow15]

LUZ'S OUTFITS

It's 1:00 am. I am still thinking. Why not?

I really like how nearly all her outfits represent where she is emotionally. By that I mean that her wardrobe changes as she realizes her world is changing. And because I like writing something that drags on, why not analyze Luz's closet of clothing?

Because Luz is a fashion icon.

First off, you can't talk about Luz's wardrobe without mentioning the color purple. Because it's the color that shows up frequently in most of her outfits. I'm gonna base some things off of the first thing that shows up on google:

She showed up to the demon realm in purple, alongside neutral colors. Also the bi flag features the color purple and she's canonically bisexual.

But the main thing that purple represents is Luz. All the characters can be experimenting with different colors, But Luz is the one who wears purple. Not pinkish lavender Amity, not the Collector's shades(might circle back). Purple.

For luz's default clothing that we see in most episodes: it's jean shorts over leggings, a short-sleeved crop top that is half white/half purple, and plain-white shoes.

Very basic, very standard. Kind of like a blank slate. People criticized that it didn't go with her "Us weirdos have to stick together" message. Personally, I think it reflects a standard 14 y/o's casual wear. Who had their own unique style at 14?

This is what she wore at the beginning, when her mom decided to send her to a camp she didn't wanna go to.

Figuratively, she didn't want to go to the camp because she thought it was going to change who she was, when really she doesn't know who she is outside of the weirdness bit. So she spends most of her time safely in The Owl House Comfort Zone wearing a very neutral color palette. Also a stripe of purple because it matches Azura's outfit in the books, so it also shows the influence Azura has on Luz, at least in this season and so.

Literally, She knows she's gonna spend an unknown amount of time inside a bus so she's not gonna wear anything crazy.

For Luz's school outfit: She dawns a black hoodie and top, has red/blue leggings, green/purple sleeves, and her standard white shoes.

This uniform makes Luz stand out from other students in the Hexside setting. The multiple colors differentiate her from her single-track peers. Especially since each color has a lighter half on each limb. And the wardrobe is a representation of going against the norms of school system.l

A very important thing to note about Luz's s1 outfits is how they tend have colors that pop out, such as purple and maybe pink or blue, combined with black and white. The bisexual colors are the ones that reflect how she's open to others and her very bubbly personality.

But the black and white colors are weird though. Since Black and white are associated with maturity and professionalism, I would assume it reflects the part of her character that knows when to be assertive. And maybe even tie it as a comfort zone. Go-to comfortable clothing for when you want to blend in.

Time for angst with one of her more popular outfits: The GROM OUTFIT. She has a white button-down under a black blazer with purple accents, purple leggings, brown boots, and a pink tutu skirt. Finally, she pulls her hair back to be ready for grom.

This is another outfit that stands out mainly because of the traditionally male and traditionally female parts of the outfit clashing together into one genderless masterpiece, showing that luz is GNC(gender non-conforming). And because this is one of the most well known episodes of TOH, this is one of her more recognizable outfits.

I want to talk about the blazer for a moment though. Luz's conflict in this episode is about her deep fear of how her mom will react when she finds out about what she's been up to, and it has been affecting her texts back to her mom. I'll circle back on this later but, the long sleeved blazer is kind of a metaphorical tarp that covers and hides all of those worries from others. She never opens up to anyone about her fear throughout the episode, nor does she take off the jacket at any point. How did you dance in a fucking blazer

One more note for her hair: She's pushed it back twice in the show. Once in this episode, twice when she has to get Amity's job back. She does it when she needs to be strong or brave for what she's about to get into. Like, emotional armor. Not for literal protection but to protect herself. Also purple.

SPEAKING OF PROTECTING YOURSELF-

*trumpets* THE CLOAK MADE OF MAGIC SPAGHETTI.

It's her normal outfit + a purple cloak. It has a darker purple color on the outside, and a lighter purple under. With a yellow/gold button to keep it around her neck.

The darker color on the outside is just for edginess and to cloak herself at when being stealthy. The lighter under color is to still give the color of the crop top, bringing back the pop hidden by the darker color. This could represent how she pushing her normal demeanor aside to become more mature and serious. That could be a stretch though

In the show, It literally protects her from danger with magic. It was made and gifted to her by Eda, reinforcing how much Eda cares for Luz. It is a literal symbol of protection. Until-

This is the last time we see her in her purple cape. In the mid season 2 finale. I can't tell if it's burnt off or disintegrated or something, but its definitely ruined. It's soaked in dark green, has holes in it, and has sharp tears on the bottom.

In season 2, the story gets higher stakes and it's a slow process for Luz to fully learn all of them. It's also the season where she has to look at herself and think about who she wants to be. She has a lot of things to process this season and cannot process any of it.

This is the start of a more cold and isolated(ish) Luz for the next few episodes. She doesn't think her mom will understand her side of the story, she doesn't immediately tell Eda and king about the promise, she doesn't immediately tell people about the things that are bothering her.

For the next episodes afterwards, AKA season 2B, she wears little to no purple in her outfits. She isn't the Luz that was learning magic for fun and preaching weirdness and not fitting the norm. She's now a Luz that has to sort out all the thoughts and obstacles in her mind in order to move forward and shit but she distracts herself with real problems to focus on solving in order to avoid dealing with her pain because the brain will do anything to avoid pain and she doesn't have time to focus on consistency with her clothing.

All this to say that mid-way through the series, she changes.

#the owl house #the owl house season two #the owl house analysis #the owl house meta #idk what meta is #toh screenshots #toh analysis #toh speculation #toh luz #the owl house luz #luz noceda #luz the human #luz the owl house #toh s2b is really something else #its such a change from the first half of the series #like #in terms of tone #it shifts into a much more serious story #i fucking love it #i hope they keep it up in season 3 #or the 3 part special #fuck disney #i'll edit this post if I see some spelling error or something #these are all 1:00am thoughts

[daltoneering]

I feel like it's maybe pointing out the obvious but I can't stop thinking about how important the "be my bodyguard" scene (or "red scene" as Mile and Apo fondly call it) is. It's a scene that I think has been coming for a long time; something that we have needed for a long time, and I really loved how they did it.

Things they haven't said to each other, and secrets they've kept—and the trust issues created by association—have been at heart of their conflicts throughout the entire series: in episode 5, Kinn is not honest with his feelings for Porsche, resulting in disaster; in episode 7, the fact that Kinn hasn't told Porsche about Tawan creates a rift between the two of them, pushing Porsche further towards Vegas and affecting Kinn's trust issues; in episode 9, Porsche listening in on Kinn because he doesn't trust him is the reason why Kinn has to lock him up—and Kinn's failure to communicate his plan with him both in ep 9 and early in episode 10 add to this conflict. Even in episode 12, that argument about the fact that Kinn hadn't been honest with Porsche about why he hired him is rooted in the same issue: honesty, or the failure to share it, with each other.

And this secret in particular—one so alarming that it made Porsche throw up a physical touch boundary between the two of them, eliminating their main form of communication—is key, because it has affected Porsche's entire life, and Chay's life by association. It has been lurking throughout their entire relationship, as yet unresolved. But Kinn's character growth, and their relationship growth, means that they can now resolve it—through words rather than sex, and the promise of honesty, and the clear signal that Kinn is sending of choosing Porsche by moving out of the main family house to live with him.

And so I love that they chose—that Kinn chose—to give us this scene here, back where it all started. Back where that first lie stemmed from. In episode 6, we saw them fall into a river, which washed away their hostility towards each other, creating a fresh slate for them to build their relationship on in the freedom of the woods: here, Kinn is intentionally making that choice to wipe things clean himself, rather than being nudged into it by circumstance. And just like they found freedom in that ability to be themselves in the woods, this is also bringing them freedom—the freedom of not having to hide anything from each other anymore.

Kinn's line "there will be no more secrets between us" sums up this scene—and everything that has been building up to it—perfectly. (Also, in the trailer this line is layered over a shot of them in the woods—following what I said above: nice!) I actually think that, in hindsight, trust has not been as much of an issue since they resolved it in the episode 7 bathroom scene as communication has been—they have had conflict, yes, but most of it has been around not telling each other things, rather than not trusting each other (I have more thoughts on this if anyone is interested!). So this line about no more secrets is not only about trusting each other, but more importantly about communication and total honesty—of their feelings, and of their selves.

In my mirrors and reflections meta I've often talked about how the fact that we still see them reflected together has been a clue that they still have yet had to resolve this honesty issue—that there have still been things lurking below the surface. In episode 10, I pointed out that their reflection in the pool was small, blurry: they were getting closer to that resolution.

There are still two episodes left, but I think they've reached it. They've broken down that final barrier, and started being fully open and honest with each other—and now when they have the Pool Scene we will see them in the place where they were once reflected, breaking up those reflections and any lingering doubts with their real, true selves. (And if we do get more reflections of them together, then I will simply be wrong, and that's okay! Also I know we still have the "I'm on your side" scene coming but I am feeling more and more like that might be a misdirect from the trailer and will be largely external and not related to their honesty issues. But watch this series prove me wrong as it has time and time again!)

So when Kinn asks Porsche, "Be my bodyguard," he's not only starting over again with the same words he used all the way back in episode one: he's also asking for them to be each other's, for complete two-way transparency and honesty and trust, and to stay with him—to choose him. And Porsche responds by affirming the love they have for each other, cementing that promise. It's nothing short of a marriage proposal. I can understand why it was Mile's favourite scene, because I think it might be one of mine too.

#kinnporsche #kinnporsche the series #kinnporsche meta #also super interesting that this scene follows directly on from porsche choosing not to kill the man who killed his parents #he had the choice between becoming a mafia version of himself and sticking to his true self #and he chose to follow what his heart told him and do what *he* would do rather than what korn wanted him to do #and this in the same episode as kinn making the choice to leave the main family house and come and by with him #something something it's only once they are both being their full authentic selves that this scene can happen #sorry for hiding these thoughts in the tags the post was getting too long lol #also i do accept there may be another wobble next episode but i am hoping that they are both gonna end up on the same side #and like obviously they will be fully resolved by the end of 14 and when we do get the pool scene #but basically all this to say that i haven't wanted them to have the pool scene yet because i haven't thought they were ready #but now i am declaring them Ready #kp*

[thevelaryons]

I think fandom should start viewing the Targaryen & Velaryon succession crises during the Dance of the Dragons as the two separate issues that they are. 

In the case of Rhaenyra’s claim to the Iron Throne, the fact that she had bastards ultimately has no bearing on her claim. If Rhaenyra had only trueborn children, she still would have been usurped. It all just comes down to her position as a woman in a patriarchal society. That’s the issue GRRM is trying to explore over and over again with the various women of house Targaryen who have their claims challenged by a male relative. This issue is never truly resolved and so even post-Dance we have female Targaryens getting their claims usurped by men.

It is house Velaryon that deals with the issue of having ‘bastardborn’ children in the line of inheritance during the timeline of the Dance. The various Velaryon bastards face an in-universe classist treatment on account of their birth. Despite that, GRRM depicts these bastards as notable members of their family. The succession of the Driftwood Throne is repeatedly brought up in the book in relation to them. House Velaryon is divided during the Dance. It is not until the war is over that we see a resolution to the matter of the Driftmark succession: Alyn Velaryon, born Alyn of Hull, is to inherit the seat.

Since both families are quite close, it can often lead to people mistakenly conflating all matters between them. But GRRM makes it quite clear that these two families are dealing with separate political issues over the course of the war. 

#even in the main series a targaryen girl and a velaryon bastard are the most relevant figures from their houses #asoiaf #house of the dragon #house velaryon #house targaryen #meta #the blackfyre rebellion is an amusing amalgamation of this #a velaryon descendant bastard born to a targaryen woman who's claim is said to be usurped by a male relative